Bobby's World: Watch Out Nags Head, Here Comes Bobby

We haven't gone on a real vacation since before Bobby was born. We have taken him on a couple of overnight trips when he was small enough to be confined to a stroller and unable to work a child lock on a door. However this year Bob and I decided that we needed a real vacation. It's been way too long!

I went online and started looking for somewhere for Bob and I to go that was semi-close and semi-affordable. I just can't imagine being too far from Bobby yet so that I can get home to him in an emergency situation. I ended up ordering the tourism books from all of our neighboring states. Bob and I had pretty much figured out our vacation in our head. However, every time I looked through the travel books I kept hearing myself say, "Bobby would love this."

One day while Bob was at work, I started looking through the North Carolina book and ended up searching rental homes, which was not our intended vacation destination, in the Outer Banks, since it isn't as crowded as other beaches like Myrtle, Ocean City, Virginia Beach. I looked for small homes, since I really don't want to be keeping an eye on Bobby in a huge, multi-bedroom home. Then I looked at the cost and it hit me, he would be so much easier to manage for this type of vacation during the off-season. I found a house that I liked with a pool, we have to have a pool, and that is 350 feet from the beach. I showed it to Bob when he got home. He liked the idea of taking Bobby too. We picked a time after school starts back up and the beaches are much less crowded.

We rented the house and we are going on a family vacation.....now the real stress starts!!! OMG, we are actually going to take Bobby to the beach for a week. This is either going to be the best or worst week ever!! Please take a minute to pray that this week is the best week ever. Thank you.

This is a picture of our beach access from the rental website.

Why am I sharing our future vacation plans, and so early?? Hoping to get some great tips from my autism friends that have successfully traveled with their child/ren.

We don't foresee any problems with the drive there, he loves riding in the car and is now able to go into fast food places and eat and use the bathroom with not much problem. I'm also not worried about what to take for him to play with since he doesn't play with much. As long as we have his iPad and a small storage container of his favorite blocks we should be fine on this end. I will also be preparing most of our food while there so what he will/won't eat isn't really a concern either.

Our biggest concern.......Bobby's safety.

Since Bobby wears a Project Lifesaver bracelet, we have to tell our sheriff's department where and when we are going to see if they offer the PL service at our destination. They will also inform their sheriff's office that Bobby is coming to town!! I know, crazy isn't it, but this is important in our travels to make sure that all preparations are in place just in case he elopes.

I think that I have figured out a solution for all of the sliding glass doors that are in this home. I am planning to take tension rods with me (my house will have a lot less curtains while we are on vacation) to put up at the top of the doors to keep them shut. This way he can't reach the rod like he could if one was stuck in the bottom track. I also plan to take these magnetic door alarms (they run about $15 for a 2-pack) to put on all of the exterior doors, which are required to be metal. That way we will have an alarm any time a door opens so we know if Bobby opens a door.

I am also planning to take a twin mattress off of the bunk beds in one of the other rooms and put on the floor so that Bobby can sleep in our room, just like at home. We also have a video baby monitor that we are taking with us so that we can watch him in another room.